M’CHIGEENG—The Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) Mustangs boys’ volleyball team are the 2017 North Shore Secondary School Association champions!
“I was concerned going in,” said MSS coach Peter Kategiannis. “There has been a lot of ups and downs this season.”
“We did win NSSAA; on paper it looked easy, but it wasn’t,” stated Mr. Kategiannis.
Having gone undefeated in the regular season, with 15 wins and no losses, the Mustangs were ranked number one in the NSSSA playdowns and had to play Jeneusse Nord of Blind River in the semi-finals, at the NSSAA championships held at MSS on November 8. The Mustangs breezed through this round, winning three games in a row to win the match.
In the other semi-final match, Espanola High School defeated Elliot Lake. Espanola, “is a good team, we happened to be the only team that got in their way this year. They only lost three times in the regular season, to us,” explained Mr. Kategiannis.
After winning the first game of the best three of five final against Espanola by a score of 25-19, things got a whole lot tougher for MSS in the next two games. They won the next two, by 25-22 and 25-23, to prevail in three straight games and the championship.
With the NSSAA championship, the MSS Mustangs now will travel to North Bay this week for the Northern Ontario Secondary School Association championships. “I think we’re the team to beat going into NOSSA,” said Mr. Kategiannis. “We have beaten all the teams that are taking part, in tournaments held this year.”
